1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved label for a disk storage device, such as a floppy disk or diskette, that is insertable in and removable from a data processing system disk drive. More particularly, it relates to such an improved label that is permanently associated with the diskette and is visible when the diskette is in the disk drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of approaches have been used in the past for providing labels with information pertaining to, for example, floppy disks used to store programs and/or data used in data processing systems. Most commonly, such labels are mounted directly on the protective carrier for the floppy disk. The available space on the protective carrier is limited to areas that do not interfere with the functions of the diskette. More recently, special pens have become available which allow the information to be written directly on the protective carrier. However, when the diskette is in a disk drive, information directly on the protective carrier is not visible to the user.
Other approaches that have been used in the prior art provide the information in a form that is visible to the user, but not attached to the diskette. For example, the information can be written or printed out on the paper jacket on which the disk in the protective carrier are stored when not used. This approach requires that the same paper jacket always be kept with a particular diskette, which is inconvenient for the user. In the case of command sets for software, the information can also be provided as reference cards or keyboard overlays, but these are also inconvenient and must be located or changed whenever a different program is used.
The following issued U.S. Pat. Nos. disclose representative prior art approaches for labeling disks: U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,639, issued Mar. 9, 1976 to Cournoyer et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,883, issued Apr. 2, 1985 to Tarrant; U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,484, issued Oct. 8, 1985 to Rohner and U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,590, issued Jan. 28, 1986 to Manning et al. The Tarrant patent is the most significant of this group in that it discusses the need for making the label information visible to the user when the disk is in the disk drive, but the multiple part labeling system disclosed there suffers from the disadvantages discussed above.
To a certain extent, the problems associated with prior art disk labels can be alleviated through a help facility on the disk in the case of software, or reference to the disk directory. On-line help facilities are not always provided with software, and using the disk directory requires either exiting to DOS from a program or leaving a point in the program where the user is working, both of which interfere with use of a program. Despite the variety of disk labeling and other approaches used to provide information to the user about disks being used, a need remains for improvement in the provision of such information to the user while disks are in use.